Question for those that recently did the js part of freecodecamp + codeacademy

for those that recently did the js part of freecodecamp + codeacademy

why exactly was either better to learn the basics for anyone that knows nothing about any of this stuff?

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if you did css for both, same question

codeaca had changed the content i think within last year, so you have to have done it after the change

I can speak from my own experience.

Let me first say that I was not consistent in my learning, especially at the start. Sometimes there were gaps of a month or multiple weeks. Iā€™ve been learning to code since February, last year. I have never had any experience before. So that makes it around 1 year and 2 months. Out of all that time, I think you can honestly count maybe 10-11 months.

I learned on codecademy first. I first learned html, css and then javascript. Also did some jQuery. The way I did it though, was that I did 2 courses on codecademy for each, as they had old courses and new courses. I thought, hmm, my knowledge could be better, so let me do the other one too. To be honest I had no idea which one of them was old or new, so the order was mixed. It gave me some solid very, very beginner-ish base.

When I came to freecodecamp, I breezed through the challenges part verrrry easily. There were a couple of new things that I picked up here and there and I also touched on the basics I had already learned which was very handy as you forget these things quite easily when you first start out. Perhaps a couple of things were a bit tougher on the javascript challenges. Iā€™d say tougher than any I had experienced on codecademy, but it all seemed a bit more specific and less general on freecodecamp for javascript.

Freecodecamp gave me the real skills, which were the projects. The process of hitting a wall and seemingly plateauing (which now I know is a part of the process too) I found was really, really beneficial. It was kind of like I knew a lot of the basics, but when you start putting the whole website together, you realize you have no idea what the hell you are doing. You push through, you learn and you learn how to build. I think thatā€™s what freecodecamp has given me most - the skill to build, the logical thinking of a programmer. Putting the pieces together.

All in all, I feel like codecademy gave me a good solid base and freecodecamp actually taught (is teaching) me how to code. I, personally, feel like freecodecamp throws you into to the water a tiny bit too early. Maybe itā€™s just me, I donā€™t know. I just feel like that if I did not know the basics, I would have unnecessarily struggled through freecodecamp. I think the main way to learn is by doing, which in the case of software development is writing code and building, but I feel like it bottlenecks the progress a bit if you do not know the basic basics and start so early. If I were to do it again, Iā€™d do it the same way. Perhaps I may not have done 2 courses for each topic, but I would do it the same otherwise.

If anyone was to ask me how to proceed with this whole thing as a beginner, Iā€™d say learn html, css and javascript with some basic courses and then come to freecodecamp.

OH. And also! I want to mention that freecodecamp has the best community I have ever seen anywhere. Which is a big plus! People are very helpful and friendly and will give it to you straight when necessary. Codecademyā€™s community was a bit more cold, I think.

EDIT:

oh wow! thatā€™s a lot of notes! :grinning:

I did not know in what way you wanted the information written out. I thought It would be easy to read since I split it into paragraphs. I hope I still helped you or somebody else. At the end of the day, it was just my experience and my opinion. Perhaps someone might come and say the opposite. :slight_smile:

By ā€œbottle-neckingā€ (This term is not exclusive to software development. It can apply to many things) I meant that you can put in a lot of work and effort (which is the bottle) to try to do something, but if you have very limited knowledge (which is the neck), it slows down the progress. Sometimes learning a bit a bit of theory first, speeds the whole process up in the long run, rather than trying to do something and learning with bits and pieces on the fly.

7 Likes

summary of this for the actual content:

  1. ā€˜seemed a bit more specific and less general on fcc for jsā€™
  2. fcc didnt actualy show how to put a site together

some notes that i shouldā€™ve specified:

  • a good comparison has to be equal

when i do both this is what ill do

  • ill time how long i start & end on each site
  • ill note down everything good, bad (this way itā€™s remembered forever & is more accurate than memory)
  • with the notes/documentation i can actually see which site actually does things better per the time cost
  • that gives a better metric/data/measure/etc. of how good a learning source actually is (omg i feel this is good/bad!)

future comments please be:

  • concise
  • use bullet points (itā€™s hard to read massive blocks of text)
  • use bolds & headings (get to the point)

things taht were very unclear (but cleared up at end)

  • ā€˜solid very, very beginner-ish baseā€™ - im aassuming fcc didnt teach basics
  • this seems to be confirmed by ā€˜throws you into to the water a tiny bit too early.ā€™
  • ā€˜bottlenecks the progress a bit if you do not know the basicā€™

what ill do

  • ill test fcc myself stop at the 3rd or who knows? time im ā€˜stuckā€™
  • ill note any minor confusion along the way (all confusion is major tho cos that means a learning source is doing a bad job)
  • and these things will add up to the point of ā€˜stuckā€™ (so theyā€™re def not minor, thatā€™s seriously negative)

it ultimately seem like comparisions do not matters (but 1) only when and 2) only because this seems to be answered enough)

  • codeaca seems to teach basics
  • fcc does not (and that is bad for anyone that doesnt anything about any of this as per the question)

so so far looks like

  • 101 codeaca
  • 102 fcc

we also all should note that this comment of theirs is around <1 year outdated, any possible? things made better is not accounted/adjusted/factored in/considered for

itā€™s unclear/unknown if either of these sites had done anything to make anything at the beginning parts of js better or worst

unless these sites had a made clear bullet point bullet changelog (yep technical term) of

  • what was actually made better,
  • and showed exactly why that was a better way to do things

clarification

ā€˜with some basic coursesā€™

from where exaclty to make sure? codeaca?

future comments please be:

  1. concise
  2. use bullet points (itā€™s hard to read massive blocks of text)
  3. use bolded titles (get to the point)

also use understandable words, dont use technical terms/words to anyone that doesnt know anything about programming like ā€˜bottleneckā€™ (nobody would understand that) ā€“

  • instead i think what was meant is ā€˜slows down the progress cos you are ā€˜stuckā€™ā€™
  • or ā€˜not as effective to learning as codeaca for learning basicsā€™

Iā€™ll copypasta my answer from your reddit thread here:

I consider FCC to be much better than Codecademy. I feel like all that Iā€™ve ever learned from Codecademy is syntax. They hold your hand so tightly that you may learn how to write a function, but not how to solve a problem. Everything is in their little playground, so Iā€™ve often finished entire courses and thought ā€œOK. But I still have no idea how to build anything on my own computer.ā€

If you want to practice your early JS lessons, then by all means use Codecademy too. But it stops when FCC is barely getting started.

Is this a critique of someoneā€™s generous answer to your question?

2 Likes

is syntax something basic and is it needed to know to do other more advance things or no?

i dunno what a ā€˜functionā€™ is, thatā€™s a technical term i guess

so you werent able to learn how to do this thing via codeaca?

That is the exact opposite of what I said.

and did fcc to you make you able to build something without any prior knowlege?

you said this

the clarification question is:

i dunno what a ā€˜functionā€™ is, thatā€™s a technical term i guess

so you werent able to learn how to do this thing via codeaca?

@kittensatplay It sounds like you havenā€™t taken the time to even look at the basic outline of the curriculum of each program.

what do you mean by this exactly?

codeaca stops before or after fcc i dont udnerstand this

I have muted notifications on this thread and will no longer be responding.

is this a non-answer to the questino of the post?

a comment is either good or bad

and a good comment would add value to the thread

do you understand the personā€™s answer had answered the question?

that was my generous response for all future comments

how does your response add value or answers to the question tho?

if not why make random comments?